Metal inert gas (MIG) welding equipment for welding one metal workpiece to another metal workpiece is well known in the welding art. A welding gun is designed to allow a user or robot to direct a metal welding wire toward a specific location on a target metal workpiece. The welding wire is fed through the welding gun, and ultimately through an orifice in the welding tip at the end of a welding gun. The welding wire, when energized for welding, carries a high electrical potential. When the welding wire makes contact with the target metal workpiece, an electrical circuit is completed and current flows through the welding wire, across the metal workpiece and to ground. The current causes the welding wire and the parent metal of the workpieces in contact with the welding wire to melt, thereby joining the workpieces. The extreme heat causes the welding tip, usually a copper alloy, to wear out relatively quickly.
Welding tips are commonly substantially cylindrical in shape from the front of the tip to the rear of the tip. The welding tips typically have screw threads for attaching to the welding gun. Known welding tips generally have a relatively short useful life because of the material deterioration caused by the extreme heat of the welding process. Furthermore, many known welding tips tend to loosen up from their connection to the welding gun when in use, forcing users to stop welding in order to replace or tighten the welding tip.
The desire to have a welding tip that demonstrates an improved and extended useful life and a more secure method of attachment to the welding gun has been described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,420. The present invention improves the rapidity of tip change while increasing thread length.